THORNTON’S ON HIS OWN.

Toronto centre Nazem Kadri may have got off lightly for grabbing Joe Thornton’s beard in Thursday night’s shootout win over the San Jose Sharks.

For one, he survived a tilt with a much bigger man (six-foot-four and 220 pounds vs. six feet and 195 pounds) with only some facial swelling. But he also escaped further punishment for getting his hand tangled in Thornton’s mountain-man beard, pulling out a chunk of hair in the process.

On the plus side for Thornton, the Sharks star would have had to shave before fighting had he been in the UFC.

Asked whether the rule book covered beard-pulling, the National Hockey League pointed to Rule 75.2 (ii), which says: “Any player who is guilty of unsportsmanlike conduct including, but not limited to hairpulling, biting, grabbing hold of a face mask, etc. If warranted, and specifically when injury results, the referee may apply Rule 21 — Match Penalties.”

Both combatants only got fighting majors.

It appears the referees decided the beard interaction was unintentional. Or perhaps, like everyone else watching, it just took a while to figure out what had just happened.

The fight occurred two seconds into the game. Kadri said Thornton challenged him after the two were tossed out of the opening f faceoff following a nasty slashing exchange.

Kadri, 27, appeared to be trying to grab a handful of his sweater but got beard instead — unintentionally, he said later.

“I mean he’s a big boy.” “I couldn’t reach all the way across his shoulder. I felt like I just grabbed him in the middle of his jersey and just came down with a handful of his hair.”

“I thought I was a hockey player not a barber,” he added with a chuckle

The damage appeared to be done as Thornton lost his balance and went down, with Kadri still attached to his beard.

The dislodged hair landed on the ice and the mini-tumbleweed was eventually handed over to the Sharks bench, presumably for safekeeping.

In the 2015-16 playoffs, Thornton and St. Louis centre David Backes each grabbed the other’s beard during an altercation that saw no punches thrown.